Georgette Braun: A morning jolt with Who’s Who of Rockford

Monday

Sep 23, 2013 at 12:01 AMSep 23, 2013 at 10:05 PM

Kaffeeklatsching with movers and shakers in downtown Rockford is easy if you know where to go. Wired Cafe, 414 E. State St. — across the street from City Hall — is the quintessential morning java spot for those with political power, those who influence or seek to influence them, and others.

Georgette Braun

Kaffeeklatsching with movers and shakers in downtown Rockford is easy if you know where to go.

Octane Interlounge, 124 N. Main St., is one popular place where high-profile folks gather on weekday mornings, but it’s more restaurant/bar than mere coffee house and busier for lunch and dinner.

Wired Cafe, 414 E. State St. — across the street from City Hall — is the quintessential morning java spot for those with political power, those who influence or seek to influence them, and others.

Coffee, lattes and cappuccinos are big draws. Fresh-baked muffins and quiches in the glass bakery case offer tasty temptations. The place that seats 30 and serves sandwiches and soups for lunch feels comfortable, with some pub-style chairs and tables, two big leather chairs and a bistro table and chairs outside.

Works from local artists adorn the walls; this month, it’s athlete portraits by Daniel St. Clair. A bulletin board is filled with newspaper clippings signed by Wired Cafe customers featured in stories. And then there is owner Crystal Douglas, who knows the coffee preferences of most regular customers and chats with them about their children and work.

Her daughters, Shanna Hill and Maggie Douglas, help run the place.

On a typical weekday, the cafe gets about 60 customers by 10 a.m. It’s open from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.

Here are a few people I chatted with there from 7:45 to 8:45 a.m. Wednesday. By the way, I had a regular coffee, quiche and fruit:

Mayor Larry Morrissey worked on a tablet while eating fresh fruit and drinking coffee with two shots of espresso. He’s there maybe four times a week by himself or meeting with others. We talked about him dropping off his daughter at school that morning. I wish I would have asked if the 2014 retirement of Dick Meyers as Winnebago County sheriff might help pave the way for more cooperation between county and city police departments.

John Groh, president/CEO of Rockford Area Visitors & Convention Bureau, drank a hazelnut latte. He stops in at least once a week; it’s five blocks from his office. We talked about parking around Wired. I wish I would have asked him about how successful the Misery Loves Company campaign turned out to be. It was in response to Forbes’ ranking the city as the third-most miserable in the U.S.

Alan Brown, former executive director of Burpee Museum of Natural History, is working on a fundraising campaign for the Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center. He stops at Wired practically every day it’s open when he’s in town. We talked about him returning from Memphis to his part-time Rockford home and about his wedding plans. I wish I would have asked what he thinks about the job Maureen Mall is doing as his successor at Burpee.

David Anderson of Anderson Japanese Gardens stops at the cafe several times a week. He was getting a cinnamon and brown sugar oatmeal to go (he planned to eat at his desk). We talked about him and others not using professional titles in the family business. I wish I would have asked him about the popularity of donation day at the gardens, the third Thursday each month.

It’s not that I can’t pick up the phone or email these folks to get answers to my questions. The questions just aren’t weighty enough for me to do so.

They simply would have helped me have more interesting small talk over a cup of joe.